The Honorable Steve Scalise

U.S. House of Representatives

2338 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Majority Whip Scalise:

February 24, 2016

We write to collectively voice our support for House Concurrent Resolution

89, expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental
to the United States economy.

As organizations that support free markets as a fundamental pathway to

American prosperity, we oppose government policies such as a carbon tax
that punish some and reward others in accordance with the governments
prevailing viewpoint on market ideals. Such marketplace manipulation
represents a recipe for unintended consequences and self-inflicted
economic damage. Too often, poor and middle class families bear the
burden.

Indeed, independent studies demonstrate that a carbon tax would impose

considerable harm on Americans. Such a tax will lead directly to higher
electricity and transportation fuel costs for American families and
businesses. This, in turn, will inexorably lead to increased costs for
consumer goods across the board. Furthermore, a carbon tax would be
regressive, imposing disproportionately high costs on middle- and
lower-income families and thereby harming most those who can afford it
least.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in its 2013 assessment titled

Effects of a Carbon Tax on the Economy and the Environment, plainly
states: A carbon tax would increase the prices of fossil fuels in direct
proportion to their carbon content. Higher fuel prices, in turn, would raise
production costs and ultimately drive up prices for goods and services
throughout the economy.
A report from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) echoes that
finding, stating that the increased costs of coal, natural gas and petroleum
products due to a carbon tax would ripple through the economy and result
in higher production costs and less spending on non-energy goods. As a
result of decreased economic activity, a carbon tax would eliminate up to
21 million job equivalents over the next four decades. It would also reduce
workers wages: The NAM report goes on to say that [f]or workers, a
carbon tax would lead to lower real wage rates because companies would
have higher costs and lower labor productivity. The report estimates
wages could fall by up to 8.5 percent.

The negative impacts of a carbon tax would be distributed regressively

across America. Such a tax would disproportionately punish lower-income
Americans because, as the CBO points out, low-income households spend a
larger share of their income on goods and services whose prices would
increase the most, such as electricity and transportation. In its modeled
case of a $28 per ton carbon tax, CBO found that resultant costs would be
more than 2 times higher for the poorest one-fifth of American
households than for the richest one-fifth.
Our nations citizens expect and deserve their duly elected lawmakers to
institute policies that move our economy forward and allow all Americans
an equal opportunity to succeed. A carbon tax would fail resoundingly on
both of these fronts. Thank you for your leadership in introducing H. Con.
Res. 89 in the 114th Congress, and we hope that this resolution soon gets
the consideration before the full U.S. House of Representatives that it merits.
Sincerely,

Thomas Pyle, President - American Energy Alliance

Brent Wm. Gardner, VP for Government Affairs - Americans for Prosperity
Myron Ebell, Director of Center for Energy & Environment - Competitive
Enterprise Institute
Adam Brandon, President and CEO - FreedomWorks
Phil Kerpen, President - American Commitment
Harry Alford, President and CEO - National Black Chamber of Commerce
Matthew Kandrach, Vice President - 60 Plus Association
Craig Richardson, Executive Director - Energy & Environment Legal Institute
David Williams, President - Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Jonathan Lockwood, Executive Director - Advancing Colorado
George Landrith, President - Frontiers of Freedom
Richard Manning, President - Americans for Limited Government
Seton Motley, President - Less Government
Tom Schatz, President - Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Joseph Bast, President - The Heartland Institute
Amy Oliver Cooke, Executive Vice President - Independence Institute
Sabrina Schaeffer, Executive Director - Independent Womens Forum
Tom Brinkman, Jr., Founder - Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and
Taxes
Marita Noon, Executive Director - Energy Makes America Great, Inc.
Heather Higgins, President and CEO - Independent Womens Voice
Kristin Fecteau, Co-Founder - Coalition to Free America
Judson Phillips, Founder - Tea Party Nation